Biggest Mistakes to Avoid When Installing a Underground Downspout Drain [ Gutter Drainage System ] 

Best video on RU-vid for How to Install Underground Buried Downspout System and everything and anything you can run into when buildingyour UndergroundBuriedDownspoutSystem https:://ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wawHvSs0UV4.html

Thank you for everything you have done Robert by educating the home owner about down spouts, drains, french drains and the correct way to install and run the correct drainage systems. One again A+ video. Thank you so much. 👍🏻

Amazing. Where I live in Australia, it is law to run the "storm-water" to the street gutter with solid wall pipes . Most of the perforated pipes are used to collect ground seepage. They are wrapped in a one-way cloth to prevent soil ingression.

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-JUA3ww7k27g.html

This makes so much sense. I see so many landscape contrtactors that charge a lot of money do that exact same thing of jus stubbing up the drain pipe. I have seen their jobs where they dont even put an end cap of some mind on the end. Next time I fid one of these when I am doing lighting I am just going to fix it while we are there

Great breakdown and explanations! Simple, clear, and useful. Excellent demonstration of why the original design was flawed and how your design addressed multiple issues. I especially appreciate your mentioning that it is more work to set up, but that the results outweigh the labor

about to put in a french drain and have a gutter dump into it. I was planning on putting in a T or Y for cleanout, but didnt consider a catch basin. Glad I watched this before filling anything in!

Great video! This information is very helpful to me, now I understand why and how rain water is backing up and flowing over the gutters on the side of the house that has a french drain. When it stops raining I'm going to fix that problem. Thanks, Joyce from Huntsville Alabama. God bless! 😊

This an excellent video for us DYI folks! Thanks

Thanks for the informational videos! I’ve been watching a bunch as I’m in the process of redoing my drainage in central Ohio.

Your channel has helped our business a ton.

This is great, I'm pretty sure I have this exact problem, black corrugated pipe, slopes down then back up, clogged... thought it was mud but I bet it's shingle gravel... thanks for this video!

What a great informational video I learned so much this. Thank you.

All the more reason to have a metal roof on the house. I renewed my roof with a metal one and after 9 years i hardly have much crap in my drains except from small pine needles and small tree stuff , which most is caught by the RWL guards, works great.

Here's a great video on all the details for a Underground Buried Downspout system Done the Right Way ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-RnA2NOIEZ6M.html

Very detailed information. Thank you.

Damn thats an eye opener. Thanks!

Thank you. I was thinking of doing this in my yard and glad that I didn't just rush into it and do it the wrong way.

Off course it was helpful, I was about to do the same error. Thank you

best video so far !! thanks

Great video man!

great explanation of drain trap and why important

Great stuff! Thank you.

Years ago I did Foundation water proofing. A lot of water problems came from downspout over flowing right at the base of down spouts. Get the water far away from the foundation. Wish more contractors and DIY would see this👍

I never realized putting in a French drain was so technical. We don’t have gutters but was contemplating on putting a French drain around my shop to prevent undermining the foundation. Now, I’ll be checking out more of your videos

Great video, 👍👍👍 thanks,

It is such a simple concept, amazing how many people get it wrong

Good points. I installed underground gutter drain piping several yrs ago and I'm abandoning them now to go back to the kickout above ground type gutter arms. I would've kept underground system but our neighbor has a huge maple tree that heavily sheds those helicopter seeds a couple of times a year and plugs the underground pipes up completely. Both pipes have good fall on them but those seeds are perfect for plugging things up and I'm getting tired of wrestling with a plumbers auger to clean the pipes.

Nice job hard work but I think can this myself but great video

I’m 100% positive now that this is the issue that is causing my downspouts to overflow at the point that it enters the ground. You just saved me a lot of ‘figuring out’ when it comes to how to install it correctly. My side-comment joke about your video is when you emptied all of the concrete shingle debris out of the pipe and onto their nice grass “Hey, fella, couldn’t you have done that on the dirt just a few feet away instead of my grass?”😂 Awesome explanation and demonstration video. Thank you!

👍👍👍 Great point!!

Done right 👍🏾

Thanks!

I wish you were here in West Virginia......good info

looks like the guy that installed my french drain installed this too. lol

Perfect explanation and demonstration of the problem. I have two crushed pipes (3" schedule 40) that connect to 4" corrugated that is also crushed at my townhome. Neighbors tell me that at one time, there was a backhoe in that area and I believe that is why pipes are crushed. I cannot find a third pipe that comes from the crawlspace and suspect it dumps into the crushed - how can I find where to dig it out? I measured the back of the house where it goes out the crawlspace but cant find it. How deep could the pipe be buried?

In Europe we typically use a bottle gully connecting to smooth bore pipe laid to falls, emptying into underground soak away pits.

I'm facing a similar situation for a basement french drain. The house is set on a hillside so drainage should be simple straight inclined drainage. We have a dirt floor cellar with field stone & mortar walls. As mountain runoff occurs it carries silt and will eventually fill any pipe not set at the proper incline. Original french drain install was at ~4ft level for crawl space. Cellar was dug deeper for central furnace and sump was installed to pump up to original drain instead of installing new french drain at lower level. Sump constantly fills with silt. My job is to install new french drain at lower level and maintain a grade sufficient to carry the water and silt to the roadside gutter.

Terrific video. My house was built poorly. Flooded my basement twice 😢

The reason the original contractor installed a short U shape instead of following the grade is because it was cheap, took very little time and materials, no one was watching, there were no inspectors, and he would be long gone when the problems started. That is the definition of a “spec” build - build the home before selling it.

You make a good point about the roof shingles, it's better to put on steel roofing or tile roofing, they both are expensive, but they'll last the life of the house. As far as downspouts, the ones on my apartment go straight down to the ground, with the L going out away from the building, no wonder the eve troughs overflow every time it rains and maybe because there's not enough downspouts for the length of the roof, but whomever put that pipe under the sidewalk and up again created the same problem, it gets clogged up.

Excellent video. How do I deal with going far into the yard where the lawn company uses the tractor to cut the lawn? Thank you!

I have a question on installing the pop up. We’ve dug the trench sloping down away from the house, but how do I connect the pop up at the end without creating a rise in the pipe where it connects to the pop up? Particularly when the pop up has to be flush with the ground? Is the rise in the pipe at the end not a problem? It’s an NDS pop up. Thanks for your help!

I'm going to be putting in a gutter drain system soon. My backyard slopes (approx 100') with a gradual 3.5' drop into a drainage ditch, should the down spout be hooked directly into the drain pipe or can it spill into a catch basin? Thanks for the upload and any information you can provide

I mean, gravity has to be a well known principle right?... Im doing a combined french drain and grate and channel now and Ive made sure that at no point, does the french drain angle up. Roughly 1cm every metre and at no point does it join any other water sources which may backfill the ag pipe. Both exit right next to each other into a spill box...mine is catching sub soil water though and not roof gutters. Thankyou for teaching people about this stuff, RU-vid is a perfect platform for learning as long as the information is correct.

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6g7QB3XUSiA.html

I have leaf filter brand covers on my gutters. No shingle gravel. Mine horseshoes under the sidewalk and is high in the yard. I did it on purpose because I wanted the water to be used in the yard. Solid pipe all glued together with a pop-up drain. Every few years I rinse it really well and shove the shop vac hose in to make sure it's clean. Downspout into the pipe is all glued and sealed, making a 12 foot column of water pushing down, forcing the water up the other side which is only 18inches. Lesson to learn here is have a plan, a reason and a system that all works together.

I can"t believe people are not smart enough to anticipate this issue if they did the actual installation by themselves. HOWEVER, I definitely can see many contractors doing a half-ass installation like this because by the time the homeowner realizes the lousey job the contractor did, years have passed and he has no recorse. When I bought my house 35 years ago, I installed 4" PVC from both sides of my house all the way to my ditch, some 100 feet for each run. Never had any issues.

I have this exact bad design at my house. Wish I had this video when I DIY some yrs ago

How do you deal with the snow and ice on top of the popup? When melting in winter it NEVER drains what I can tell. It will always melt closer to the house/roof first leaving snow on top of the popup. Also the drain will freeze with ice often too.

I just want to know if in the north the pipe will become frozen and cause a blockage back to the downspout because the water can’t escape the pop up emitter. Some feel it should exit down into a rock bed versus up into the lawn for this reason. Thoughts? Thanks

also, the water won’t flow out as quickly as it should if it the outlet is not lower than the entry of the downspout. causes back pressure and gutters will overflow in heavy rain even if the pipe isn’t clogged

Hell yea!

Also there should be a gap inbetween the gutter and the French drain. It’s called the waterfall into the toilet bowl. This way if it freezes it doesn’t back up all the way to your roof.

Is the in line catch basin a must? Or does the popup and clean out and popup do the job, I have enough slope to to use just 10-15 ft of pipe.

Hi, how to catch and prevent shingle gravel and leaf getting down the pipe and end up with creating debris and blocking overall making system to fail?

Would there be any problem with drilling a hole or two in the bottom of an elbow where a pop up is connected? My thinking is that any residual water that can’t escape out the pop up can leach down into the soil before it freezes in the winter.

What some good questions to ask when trying to hire someone to work on drainage?

Our home is on a small and mostly level property. Our downspouts don't go into the ground. The area around the downspouts is the only place we get thick growth. Mostly weeds. Any ideas what we could do with that?

Curious how much about a French drain system should run. I know it depends on how much trenching but I just got an estimate for 22K for a French drain along the back of my house (about 25 feet long) and along the side (about 75 feet) plus rain gutters plus Stucco repair with silicone. I know it's alot of work especially since the area in the back (worst part because it's downsloping right into my house) has a concrete patio so that has to be busted up before trenching but still 22K & 2 weeks to complete the job seems like ALOT and a long time to get the job done

I have two downspouts discharge onto a slope that is parallel with the side of my house. Can I install a pop-up at an angle? Or do I need to pipe it down the hill and into the flat section? Thanks for anyone’s help.

How did you guys get the pipe under the sidewalk? Any concrete cutting involved, or did you burrow under the side walk?

I have a flat area where two side house downspouts empty. To find any slope I would need to go down the property line to all side the driveway but the town has laws where they want you to drain not to the sewers but onto your property. What is the best way to handle this? Right now I am draining onto a walkway that ends up onto the driveway. There must be a better solution

thank you but who to call to change this out

Wait - water flows downhill? My homebuilder seemed to be unaware of that fact. It is good exercise digging trenxhes and I was in pretty good shape at the end. I used the non perforated pipe for the downslope run. Nice thing about gravity is that it is always on, no problem with a sump pump not working.

Isn't there a non-problematic way to prevent shingle gravel from entering the yard pipe in the first place? Not a leaf gutter guard, but some sort of filter at the top or bottom of downspout?

Should the underground drain material be perforated with gravel below and above the tubing?

How often should we open the clean out and run a hose through it. I should’ve added stops through so I could use a shop vac. I may need to dig up and add some spots for that.

I have a slightly slanted flat roof where all the rain water drains thru the parapit wall and down into the basement through a cast iron pipe. I want to replace the cast iron pipe with PVC. Is this possible?

If you put T to hook the hose to flush out and like the catch basin

What’s the pop up used for? How does water escape? Why not just daylight the pipe? Also, doesnt the corrugation on the inside of the pipe catch debris, would a smooth walled interior of the pipe be better?

I’ve never seen this design before. We usually take down pipes to either direct runoff to ground or a soakwell to enable drainage to subsurface (only where there is sand). I suppose this is a direct runoff with gap from house.

Ok but what if you don’t have the ideal terrain for this? I have the same situation as the “wrong” example here but on the side of my corner lot. No room to slope out and I can’t discharge on to the sidewalk anyways.

Using a 24in wide bucket. What’s the minimum depth for French drain?

I simply used a Pop Up Emitter. No problems after 6 years.

For the downspout pipe. Could you use the corrugated pipe with the smooth inside and double wall

Isn't solid PVC superior to that corrugated stuff? I mean it will self flush clean while the corrugated stuff can hold debris, water for mosquitos to breed in and all. True?

I like using sewer pipe even better with a clean out near the downspout. Super easy to flush any material all the way down and no corrugations to trap material.

Guys get away with that a little more in my area because we frequently get 3-4” rainfalls in an hour or two so the tile gets a full stream flush. But when I lived in Michigan I saw that quite often with the roof gravel and maple seed buildup.

Blows my mind how many “professional” builders don’t understand that water flows downhill!!

4:50 why do you use fabric sometimes and not other times?

Is there a drainage company in Atlanta, GA you can recommend?

I installed my own system several years ago. It drops underground maybe two feet and runs level before exiting through a retaining wall. My problem (living in Minnesota) is the frost. There’s always a mid winter thaw. The snow melts from the roof, runs underground and freezes when it hits the buried tube. It quickly backs up and floods the yard. It doesn’t thaw out in time for the spring rains and the flooding continues into late May. I installed an over the ground tube in the fall and the tube being black, remains open. This year I’m going to install an electrical cord that I’ll only have plug in when water is flowing in the winter. It remains to be seen if this will be the fix.

What if you have a stainless steel mesh leaf guard on your gutters? Will that reduce this problem or prevent it?

What do you say to the guys who say don’t use corrugated pipe for downspouts only use PVC?

Just dug out an put in some corrugated pipe. I have good slope an got the end of the drain far away from the house. I ran a test for the septic and i see that after about 10 pumps its gonna back up the pipe. What do i do to keep the water from just setting inside the pipe? I was thinking digging a large hole maybe 3 foot an filling it with gravel but that still only will hold so much water. My yard has a lot of clay and floods a lot. So it seems instead of it flooding near the house its gonna flood out in the yard which doesnt seem like a real solution. To get to the road id have to go 90 degrees and another 100 foot to get the water to drain off. Im not sure i can do all that work. All i have is a shovel an my back lol. Any suggestions? I might do a short video and post it here on YT. I will reply with a link. I have no choice but to bury the pipe but i might just leave the end open for now til i come up with some plan to deal with the water.

Where do u buy this stuff at to do this job. I'm on limited budget and can't afford much but i have a drain problem.

Our downpipes in Australia have to exit into the street gutter

Amazing that so many people don’t understand that water runs down hill….

What was that first grate connected to? Why not show that fitting? Why not show the extraction?

Do you recommend anyone in Seattle?

How much would a project like this cost? Seem fancy? 😊

Where do you run the downspouts to if your yard is flat (no or very little slope) ?

check out custom augers ask for becky mash.

Hello. How much should a project like this cost?

I don't understand why you need surface slope if you install the pipe with slope. Surface slope doesn't effect the pipe if it's sloped correctly. Unless the worry is about the vertical travel to daylight. HELP

So does that drain into the ground ?? Didn’t see holes in it ?

Cant the roofing material co. Put a stronger glue on the shingles .( gravel ) no im thinking that back east. Dont have no hundred yr. Roofs .

2:55 YOU HAD ME IN THE FIRST HALF... NOT GONNA LIE.... Not at all what i thought you were about to say.... bwahahahahha

I live on 5 acres that is fully mowed and maintained and when we built my house I NEVER wanted this situation to happen. We built an all exterior brick earth contact home about 7' below the top of the property. 30 by almost 100 with a 10/12 roof. Once the foundation was sealed and waterproofed we put up 2" foam and another water barrier. Then we did something you are never supposed to do and it has worked flawlessly for 20+ years. We laid hard perforated (holes) pipe on the footer with about 4' of clean rock on top of it with a clean out up the 3 concrete walls. ALL of my gutters are tied into those pipes (big no no). We trenched 4 roughly 100' lines away from the house using schedule 40 solid pipe, no flexible corrugated stuff. I have never used the cleanouts and when we get a big gully washer there are 4 places out in front of my house that look like water main breaks about a foot high all coming off my roof. High and dry since 1991! People don't realize how much water their roof sheds.